Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) has said that he will filibuster Gorsuch and more than a dozen fellow Senate Democrats also have suggested that they would participate in the filibuster. Do you want McConnell to use the nuclear option?
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There could be a major confrontation next week over Senate rules. “Let the public judge whether that is a good thing”.
If Senate Democrats filibuster Gorsuch, Republicans, who control the chamber by a 52-48 majority, could invoke the so-called “nuclear option” and vote to change the Senate rules and approve Gorsuch on a simple majority vote. “It’s to change the nominee”, Schumer has repeatedly argued of Trump’s controversial pick. “That is bunk.” He claimed that Trump should produce a more mainstream nominee instead. “I am not comfortable with either choice”, McCaskill said in a statement.
“He has a record as a balanced, meticulous, and well-respected jurist who understands the rule of law”, Heitkamp said Thursday in a statement.
Even if all of those backed the judge and opposed a filibuster, they’d still need support from two others. She also faces re-election next year, as does another red-state Democrat, Sen. Gorsuch, for instance, sided with the company Hobby Lobby in its religious-based objection to providing contraception under Obamacare.
The Senate Judiciary Committee is planning to hold its vote on Gorsuch on Monday, which will allow Senate GOP leaders to schedule the cloture vote.
Mrs. McCaskill acknowledged she is feeding the “polarized politics” that have ensnared Washington, but said Judge Gorsuch was too extreme for her tastes.
McCaskill acknowledged that it was “a really hard decision for me”.
Then we’re not talking about Scalia for Scalia, which is what Gorsuch is, we’re talking about Scalia for somebody on the court who shares our values. It is very likely that more seats will open up during a Trump presidency and subsequently be filled by a conservative justice taking the place of a liberal one. Justice Anthony Kennedy, the pivotal vote closest to the court’s centre, is 80. He’s participated in past judicial confirmation compromises created to retain Senate traditions including the filibuster.
So far, 35 Democrats have announced their opposition to Gorsuch’s confirmation, leaving eleven undecided. Missouri voted overwhelmingly for Trump in the presidential election. “Important cases are expected to be coming up and we need a full Supreme Court to provide for the full functioning of our third branch of government. This is a much bigger mistake on their behalf”.
Democrats fear that if Republicans do remove the filibuster, Trump could have the opportunity to appoint a second nominee to the Supreme Court during his presidency, regardless of Democratic opposition.
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The likelihood that Gorsuch will move the court to the right, coupled with Republicans’ refusal to even hold a hearing for President Obama’s nominee Merrick Garland, make it clear that Democrats should fight back and filibuster Gorsuch’s nomination. “It’s going to give McConnell and Trump the opportunity to say, look, they’re just going to oppose whoever I put up”.
